The Rural Development Policy of EU in Context of Improving Rural Areas of Serbia

The implementation of numerous programs/rural development strategies of local governments in Serbia depend partly from activities of local government, and partly from willingness of associations of physical persons and legal entities, cooperatives and other members of the LAG - to take steps to implement action plans and strategic development priorities of local communities. However, it is important to note that for greater participation of LAGs in implementing rural development policy in Serbia a number of assumptions should be fulfilled: (1) strengthening the number and capacity of socio-economic of citizens' associations, clusters, cooperatives, agricultural companies and other potential members of LAG (2) creation of more favorable economic climate/environment for bigger investment in agriculture, primary processing and many other activities associated with agriculture, which can be successfully realized in rural areas of Serbia. In further work the emphasis is being put on these two key assumptions of successful application of Leader approach in future programs and policies for rural development in Republic of Serbia